The former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court is teaching classes and mentoring students as a yearlong member of the 黑料不打烊 Law faculty.
A trailblazing North Carolina legal leader has joined the 黑料不打烊 School of Law faculty as the university鈥檚 first named recipient of the Justice Sandra Day O鈥機onnor endowed professorship.
The Hon. Cheri Beasley, who in 2019 became the first African-American woman to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, will teach courses on appellate practice over the next year while delivering a public lecture and contributing to professional development opportunities for students and faculty alike.
鈥淐hief Justice Beasley鈥檚 state and national leadership as a judge and her commitment to civic engagement make her an ideal professor for 黑料不打烊 Law students,鈥 said 黑料不打烊 President Connie Ledoux Book. 鈥淟ike the law students, I also look forward to learning from her deep knowledge of the law and judicial process during future campus conversations.鈥
A year after her 2005 retirement form the bench, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O鈥機onnor presided over the dedication of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 new School of Law when the school opened its doors to its charter class. A lecture in her name was instituted at 黑料不打烊 in 2007, with Professor A.E. Dick Howard of the University of Virginia delivering the first and second Sandra Day O鈥機onnor Lectures at 黑料不打烊 in Fall 2007 and Fall 2008.
During this period, 黑料不打烊 School of Law Advisory Board members Bobby Long, also an 黑料不打烊 trustee, and the Hon. Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, former U.S. Ambassador to Finland and the first female Red Cross chairperson, joined forces to endow the Justice Sandra Day O鈥機onnor Professorship at 黑料不打烊 Law.
The endowed professorship brings to 黑料不打烊 Law distinguished legal figures whose contributions to society reflect the tenets and values of the first woman confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
鈥淚 am honored to be 黑料不打烊鈥檚 inaugural Justice Sandra Day O鈥機onnor Professor of Law,鈥 Beasley said. 鈥淲e know what a maverick and trailblazer Justice O鈥機onnor was to this nation. We know how actively engaged she was in the early days of the School of Law and how much she really believed in the ability of 黑料不打烊 Law to cultivate leaders.
鈥淲e also know that she was literally one of a kind as the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court and what a model she was for our nation, particularly for women lawyers, in a way that helps all students to believe in their fullest potential.鈥
Beasley served as a public defender in Cumberland County before she began her judicial career in 1999 as a North Carolina District Court judge. She was elected in 2008 to serve as an associate judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and, four years later, was appointed to the Supreme Court of North Carolina, subsequently winning election to the position in 2014.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Beasley to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court following the 2019 resignation of Chief Justice Mark Martin. At the time, Beasley was only the fourth African-American woman in the country鈥檚 history to serve as chief justice of any state鈥檚 highest court.
Beasley also has served in several leadership roles in the North Carolina Bar Association, as a member of the N.C. Bar Foundation Endowment Committee, and as a member of the American Bar Association Standing Committee for Legal Aid and Indigent Defense.
Beasley holds a Master of Laws in Judicial Studies from Duke University, a J.D. from The University of Tennessee College of Law, and a bachelor鈥檚 degree from Douglass College of Rutgers University.
She holds honorary doctorates from Fayetteville State University and North Carolina Central University, and she is the recipient of the聽Distinguished Alumni Award from both The University of Tennessee Knoxville and Rutgers University.
Beasley has been inducted into The Douglass Society, the highest honor bestowed by Douglass College of Rutgers University, and聽is the recipient of multiple other awards and honors including the Fayetteville State University Chancellor鈥檚 Medallion, the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys鈥 Gwyneth B. Davis Award, and The University of Tennessee Knoxville Trailblazer Award. She is also an inductee into the Rutgers University African-American Alumni Alliance Hall of Fame.
鈥淲e are so lucky to have Chief Justice Beasley join our law school community,鈥 said 黑料不打烊 Law Dean Zak Kramer. 鈥淎t every step of her career, Chief Justice Beasley has made service the foundation of her work. I can鈥檛 think of a better person to guide our students as they prepare to enter the legal profession.鈥
North Carolina鈥檚 2022 Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate recently concluded service as a Fall 2023 Resident Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. She has since joined the Raleigh office of as a shareholder in addition to her appointment at 黑料不打烊.
鈥淚’m really excited about being a part of the 黑料不打烊 Law family,鈥 Beasley said. 鈥満诹喜淮蜢 Law students really have the whole world ahead of them. There are a wealth of opportunities available, and I鈥檓 excited about working together on leadership development and watching them succeed.
鈥淭his is going to be a fruitful relationship and I look forward to being a part of the community.鈥
About 黑料不打烊 School of Law
黑料不打烊 Law is the preeminent school for engaged and experiential learning in law. With a focus on learning by doing, it integrates traditional classroom instruction with a required, full-time residency-in-practice field placement for all full-time students during the winter or spring of their second year. The law school鈥檚 distinctive curriculum provides a logically sequenced program of professional preparation and is accomplished in 2.5 years, which provides exceptional value by lowering tuition and permitting graduates early entry into their careers.
黑料不打烊 Law in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina, has graduated more than 1,500 alumni since opening its doors in 2006. Its annual enrollment now tops 440 students and the law school is regularly featured in PreLaw Magazine鈥檚 鈥淏est Schools for Practical Training鈥 rankings, reaching #5 in the nation in 2023.
The 黑料不打烊 Law Flex Program, a part-time, in-person program of legal study for working professionals in Charlotte, N.C., will begin in Fall 2024 following programmatic and campus approvals by the American Bar Association and SACSCOC, respectively.